Fire Witch Rising

Come At Me With Crapitalist White Male Supremacy And I'll Burn You

Friday, February 29, 2008

Payback's A Snitch: Race War Baby Killer, Prince Harry, Headed Home

Now that Prince Harry's been pulled from waging white supremacist war against the people of Afghanistan - for poppies and pipelines - he's headed home. This change in his deployment means the little lordling just became a walking Twin Towers of future, retributive blowback. He'll never have a worry-free moment for the rest of his short life.

Which reminds me, do you know what the IRA replied to Margaret Thatcher's mocking remark about the "luck of the Irish" after their near-miss attack on her lair at the Brighton Hotel?

"Mrs. Thatcher, we only have to get lucky once. You have to get lucky every day."

Harry's first bomb: Directing operations: Prince Harry talks to aircraft control from JTAC Hill close to Base Dwyer and two US F15 jets discharge separate 500lb charges onto a Taliban bunker system after being given clearance by the Prince - known to pilots only as call sign Widow Six Seven.

Thursday, February 28, 2008

A Sorry Attempt At Apology

"'We have a government that took our land and our children and physically and emotionally abused them and forced them to assimilate into something that they're not," said Francis, an accounting consultant by trade and a longtime activist for American Indian causes. "We — I — live with the pain of that every day. And for this they issue a bunch of words, empty like their treaties, that mean nothing and nobody hears.'"

Shannon Francis, a Colorado AIM leader, was arrested last October for blocking the Columbus-celebrating Convoy of Conquest, Denver's annual hate speech parade.

Shannon Francis never sought an apology from a country that yanked her mom and grandma off their reservations, forced them into white foster families and barred them from speaking their native Hopi and Navajo languages.

So the Denver resident was unaware Tuesday that her government had decided to say, "Sorry."

"I had no clue it was coming," the 38-year-old mother of six said with a shrug. "So much for making history."

Like Francis, you probably missed it when the U.S. Senate quietly apologized for centuries of "violence, maltreatment and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples."

The unprecedented resolution acknowledges that the government forced indigenous people off their land, stole their assets and was responsible for "official depredations, ill-conceived policies and the breaking of covenants" with tribes.

When Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized two weeks ago for policies that degraded that country's Aborigines, he blared his pronouncement live on giant screens throughout Australia.

U.S. senators instead buried their "Oops, our bad" in an amendment to a bill for American Indian health care.

Well, that certainly makes up for the Sand Creek Massacre and Wounded Knee.

So much for healing generations.

"White America can't afford to apologize too seriously because it would threaten their ownership of Indian land," said Iliff School of Theology Indian cultures professor Tink Tinker.

Tuesday's resolution came at the urging of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who reports a "deep resentment" among Native Americans in his state.

His colleagues aren't so big on apologies. Congress hadn't formally said "sorry" since apologizing to Native Hawaiians in 1993 for overthrowing their kingdom a century earlier. In 1988, lawmakers apologized and compensated Japanese-Americans interned in World War II detention camps.

Brownback's resolution does not authorize or settle any claim against the United States.

"We have a government that took our land and our children and physically and emotionally abused them and forced them to assimilate into something that they're not," said Francis, an accounting consultant by trade and a longtime activist for American Indian causes. "We — I — live with the pain of that every day. And for this they issue a bunch of words, empty like their treaties, that mean nothing and nobody hears."

Who is the apology really for, Francis wonders?

Is it for her mother, grandmother and aunties who spent lifetimes trying to forget the federal boarding schools that sought to strip away their culture?

For her brother, plagued like their father and grandfather by poverty and alcoholism?

For her son, who failed a 7th-grade history test when he refused to check the box saying Christopher Columbus discovered America?

Or for Francis herself, who overcame years of shame about her dark skin and accent to learn the ways of her ancestors that her own family had failed to pass on: to honor her kids, hug them and root them deeply in their heritage?

"If our people had been left alone, maybe things would have been different," she said.

As Francis sees it, Tuesday's resolution does little to fix a sad sequence of abuses that still is far from over.

"We don't need any more hollow words," she says. "What I want is for the country to be honest, really honest, about what it has done and what it continues doing to our people."

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

In The Valley Of Elah

Finally, I've gotten a chance to sit down and see one of those wonderful films - In the Valley of Elah - that Amerikan soldiers love to whine about because it shows them in such a "bad light." Tommy Lee Jones stars as Vietnam Vet and lifer, Hank Deerfield, whose enlisted son is found dismembered and burned after his return from Iraq. Jones plays detective and finds out more about his golden boy and Our Troops' true nature than he wants to face. An inveterate flag-humper, Deerfield slowly unravels the horrors of the race war against the people of Iraq and his son's brutal enabling of it. The film does not neglect to expose gender war (on the homefront) as well, repeatedly linking soldiers' violence against their wives and prostituted women to their murderous, macho-asshole culture.

Dovetailing with Colorado soldiers currently making headlines for returning from Iraq to continue their serial killing sprees, In The Valley of Elah is not to be missed as a morality tale about the consequences of race and gender war. The killer's chilling confession at the end is the highlight of this film. And I wish I had been in the theatre for the very last scene; I would have stood up and cheered.

In the Valley of Elah is not just a good message movie, it's also personal. From time to time since I've started this blog, I've gotten letters from outraged Amerikan soldiers haranguing me about some thing or another. I largely ignore it, as I don't enjoy corresponding with vicious twelve-year olds, but this soldier was an exception. The race war in Iraq has taken his brother's life, but the little flag-humper still wants to believe that there is no such thing as consequences, as he spews jingoistic justifications for everything from the Occupation to rape. Here are just a few excerpts:

Just so you know, I am with an engineering battalion here. A huge part of our mission is providing supplies, structures, and water wells for the Iraqi people. We are not out there killing families indiscriminately like they do to one another, Sunni v. Shia. We are trying to provide them with basic quality of life. It doesn't matter if I agree with the war or not, MY battalion is here to help the populace. We carry and use our weapons to protect ourselves from snipers and bomb-makers trying to kill us for building a school or bringing medicine to children who are of a different sect of Islam than their own. And the ground pounders are out there doing their part to kill those who would blow up a market place. Sure there are bad apples in the military, and they are a disgrace to all of us. Believe me, we don't like them any more than you do. There are bad doctors and cops too, it happens. Every effort is taken but sometimes things go wrong. The stress here is huge. I don't expect you to understand or agree.

Oh, I understand you perfectly, and what I expect is for you to stop enabling genocide and come home.

All of us respect women, none of us are religious extremists or racist in any way - although growing up I had rocks thrown at my face and was attacked on the street by Arabs because I was a white boy in an Arab country I harbor no grudge. I love Arab culture, learned to speak, read, and write their language, and am over here now trying to help the people of Iraq. And my mother is a saint.

He loves his OWN mother, but not Iraqi mothers, or women who get raped. The fucker's sympathies are naturally with the rapist not the victim:

I don't care what color a woman is, in fact I don't even prefer white women, given a choice. Any woman of any race can be beautiful, just like any man. And I don't think anyone deserves to be raped. Your porn argument falls, look at women like Jenna Jameson who have made fortunes off exploiting mens' desire to see naked girls. [Women rape men with porn, not the other way around.] I know a lot of women in the military and none of them have been raped. [Like they're gonna wear signs around their necks, asshole] Most military rape cases involve alcohol, on the woman's part. If a woman takes 18 shots of liquor and then goes to a guy's room and then says she is a victim it holds about as much credibility as me walking through a ghetto waving hundred dollar bills in the air and then complaining about being robbed. Is it fair? No. But "victim?" Not really.

[Ghetto=blacks=thieves. Naw, he's not racist. And yes, having sex with a women who is incapicitated by alcohol - as in the scenario above - is rape. Her consent cannot be said to have been freely given.]

If you want to live in your little false utopian construction where under the pretenses of a screen name you hate all men, and you hate all white people, and you think the whole world has victimized you that's fine. I'm not going to insult you for it, like you choose to insult me without even knowing who I am. I like women, I don't have any problem with women having power over me - no matter what color her skin is. If she deserves it, she can have all the power she wants.

I just think it's pretty lame that you insulted my family on such ridiculous grounds. I don't want to argue with you, I don't even feel the need to convince you that men are ok. And you aren't going to convince me that I'm a lower lifeform just because I was born white and male. Get a clue.

Do the world a favor, baby killer. Take a bullet for Bush.

Do you like to dominate men? It seems like you would. If so, you should work on making more women stronger instead of trying to make men weaker.

My job is to make fuckers weaker, therefore empowering women to live in a world free of the burden of sexual trauma. If the fuckers happen to be men, that's not my problem.

The reason I'm not surrounded by woman as you describe is because the freakin' military stationed me in the south. Women in the south as far as I can tell care for nothing more than to go to prom, get really drunk, and marry some redneck and make babies. Then they can complain to their friends about how all he cares about is beer, football, and fishing while all they care about is drama, drama, and drama. I'm not that guy and I don't want to marry that girl.

Nothing whines like a white boy when he's blaming everybody else for his problems.

Well I need to go wash up because I spent all day at the shooting range making sure my troops are able to defend themselves against the insurgents who try and shoot us and blow us up as we build schools and give gifts to children. You know what gifts the insurgents give to children? Toy weapons that look real in an attempt to get coalition forces to kill the kids and then the insurgents say we're baby killers. Fuck that, they are the ones killing the children. Have a nice evening, miss.

So, women make men consume porn and the Iraqis make Our Troops kill their kids. I wonder how long it will take this proud soljer boy to wash all that blood off his hands. In any event, I ended the correspondence with the creep, then a few months later I get this dingleberry:

Ma'am,

Well after you e-mailed my mom to find out that I'm real, you don't write to me anymore. What is supposed to keep me up at night if I don't have you telling me what a terrible person I am? I miss it. And you won't be able to meet me for several months so you might as well keep telling me stuff like that in the mean time!

People are essentially suckers for the truth about themselves. Needless to say, I left this creep alone, but not before I told all my friends and family who he was and what he had written. If I ever end up dead in some horrible way, this fucker is Suspect Number Two. Suspect Number One works for Fox 31 News.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Dirty Pigs Wallow In Murderous Love Triangle

Naturally, Charlie Brennan reports.

And I, quite frankly, am glad Fox 31 News has forced Cheatin Charlie to report on this trial of obsessive adultery and murder amongst the Greeley police, seeing as how Brennan's venal fixation on his female pen pal drove her to break off her correspondence with the two-timing chump after he requested to see a XXX sex letter he thought she had written. Let Shawna Nelson's trial for the murder of Heather Garrous be a warning to you, Mr. Brennan, about obssessing over something you can't have.

Look Chuck, I know you read this site regularly; I know you've posted here under assumed names - perhaps because you think you can somehow get to the Mystery Lady through me. But let me assure you once and for all - you can't.

So you just take real good notes in that courtroom this week, ya hear? And never forget; love isn't love when it leads to violence - physical or otherwise. Liars do get caught. Crime doesn't pay.

FORT COLLINS -- The man at the center of the love triangle that led to the fatal shooting of Heather Garraus took the witness stand Friday to give dramatic and damning testimony about the conduct of Shawna Nelson in the wake of his decision to break off a long-term affair with the Greeley woman.

Ignacio Garraus, a veteran Greeley Police officer at the time of the Jan. 23, 2007 execution-style slaying of his wife, testified about a series of alarming e-mails and text-messages he’d received from Shawna Nelson after informing her Dec. 18, 2006, that he’d confessed all details of their affair to his wife. He’d be staying with his wife, he told Shawna Nelson, 36, and any further contact would be conducted through his lawyer.

“You have no heart,” read a Dec. 18, 2007 text message, projected onto a large screen for the jury. Another one read, “My loyalty is gone. I loved and trusted U and U (expletive) me. Be prepared.”

Jurors heard a voice-mail left on Ignacio Garraus’s phone, demanding monthly payments, and vowing, “If you thought you had no money now, you’ll really have no money later.”

The jury of seven men and seven women also saw text messages that Shawna Nelson – still married at the time to Weld County Sheriff’s deputy Kenneth Nelson – sent to Heather Garraus, after finding out that Ignacio Garraus would not leave her, despite having fathered a baby boy by Shawna Nelson.

Just about five weeks after those text messages were allegedly sent, Heather Garraus was confronted in the parking lot of the Colorado State Employees Credit Union in downtown Greeley, as she was leaving work at the end of the day.

As horrified co-workers looked on, a dark-robed, hooded figure commanded Heather Garraus, said, “You ruined my life. Get down on your knees,” and fired two rounds from a handgun into Heather Garraus’s head. She died at the scene.

Friday’s testimony, in a trial that has attracted national attention in part due to the fact four key figures had current or past ties to Weld County law enforcement – Shawna Nelson was a former police dispatcher – revealed new details about the relationship between Shawna Nelson and Ignacio Garraus.

The jury was shown a photograph of a tattoo on Shawna Nelson’s ankle, “Inaki,” a pet family name for Ignacio Garraus within his own family.

Asked by prosecutor Greg Lammons how he felt about that tattoo, Garraus said, “It disturbed me. She altered her body with my name.”

Despite the fact that they are parents of an infant son, named Christian, Garraus said, “We didn’t have that kind of relationship…Why the heck would she put my name on her body?”

In a lengthy cross-examination, Garraus admitted that Shawna Nelson's pregnancy that produced their out-of-wedlock son was not the first time they conceived. She became pregnant by him early in their affair, but that pregnancy was aborted Oct. 20, 2004, in a procedure that Ignacio Garraus paid for.

Under cross-examination, Garraus was confronted by defense attorney Kevin Strobel about the numerous times he had denied the truth of his affair not only to his wife, but to other members of the police department, including denying that he had fathered a child by Shawna Nelson.

Earlier Friday, Ignacio and Heather Garraus’s 10-year-old daughter, Victoria, testified briefly about the hours leading up to learning her mother had been killed. She was treated by her father to ice cream before they mad a trip to King Soopers, then went home.

Victoria Garraus’s last conversation was a phone call to Heather Garraus at her workplace, to ask for help with her homework, while her father “made burgers.” Her question for her mother, she told jurors, concerned “when you have the ‘a,’ and the line above it.”

Live television coverage of the trial has been approved by Weld County District Judge Roger Klein. But, during the child’s testimony, cameras and recording equipment were ordered to be turned off.In Ignacio Garraus’s testimony, he told jurors the rest of the story of the evening his wife was killed; that a friend from the bank had called, that he and his daughter had rushed to the scene. Intercepted before they saw Heather Garraus lying fatally wounded in the parking lot, they went immediately to the Northern Colorado Medical Center.

There, a trauma doctor gave him the grim news, which Ignacio Garraus then relayed to their daughter, who was waiting outside the hospital in a police car.

“I told her, Victoria, Mommy’s dead,” Ignacio Garraus testified.

Friday marked the first full day of prosecution testimony in the case, which is expected to last into early March. The prosecution had presented several witnesses Thursday afternoon, the first day of testimony.

Friday’s first witness was Greeley resident, Judy Villa. She and a friend had just arrived at a bar adjacent to the credit union where Garraus worked, a few minutes before the Jan. 23, 2007 shooting. Moments after hearing two “cap” sounds, Villa saw a figure clothed in dark running down an alley, past the bar.

Villa identified the fleeing figure as appearing female, based on “the way she was running.”

The dark-clothed figure, Villa said, got into a dark Ford truck with pale-blue Colorado plates and white lettering, which then sped away, swerving as it did so. She didn’t record or recall the numbers and letters on the plates, and remains uncertain of the exact model.

If Shawna Nelson is convicted of first-degree murder she would serve life without parole. Prosecutors elected not to pursue the death penalty, against her.

Also charged in the case is Kenneth Nelson, who will be tried for evidence tampering, and Shawna Nelson’s best friend Michelle Moore – a former Weld County Sheriff’s deputy. Shawna Nelson allegedly discussed her plans for the murder in advance, with Moore, who is charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

"There is no evidence that indoor prostitution is safer for the women involved. Rather, it is just as violent and traumatic. Prostitution is inherently violent, merely an extension of the violence that most prostituted women experience as children. We should aim not merely to reduce this harm, as if it is a necessary evil and/or inescapable, but strive to eliminate it altogether. Those promoting prostitution rarely address class, race, or ethnicity as factors that make women even more vulnerable."

As Aboriginal women on occupied Coast Salish Territory, we, the Aboriginal Women's Action Network (AWAN) implore you to pay attention to the voices of Aboriginal women and women's groups who are speaking out in the interest of our sisters, our daughters, our friends and all women whose voices have not been heard in the recent media discussion on prostitution and legalized brothels for the 2010 Olympics.

We, the Aboriginal Women's Action Network, speak especially in the interests of the most vulnerable women - street prostitutes, of which a significant number are young Aboriginal women and girls. We have a long, multi-generational history of colonization, marginalization, and displacement from our Homelands, and rampant abuses that has forced many of our sisters into prostitution. Aboriginal women are often either forced into prostitution, trafficked into prostitution or are facing that possibility. Given that the average age at which girls enter prostitution is fourteen, the majoiity with a history of unspeakable abuses, we are also speaking out for the Aboriginal children who are targeted by johns and pimps. Aboriginal girls are hunted down and prostituted, and the perpetrators go uncharged with child sexual assault and child rape. These predators, pervasive in our society, roam with impunity in our streets and take advantage of those Aboriginal children with the least protection. While we are speaking out for the women in the downtown eastside of Vancouver, we include women from First Nations Reserves, and other Aboriginal communities, most of whom have few resources and limited choices. We include them because AWAN members also originate from those communities, and AWAN members interact regularly with Native women from these communities.

The Aboriginal Women's Action Network opposes the legalization of prostitution, and any state regulation of prostitution that entrenches Aboriginal women and children in the so-called "sex trade." We hold that legalizing prostitution in Vancouver will not make it safer for those prostituted, but will merely increase their numbers. Contrary to current media coverage of the issue, the available evidence suggests that it would in fact be harmful, would expand prostitution and would promote trafficking, and would only serve to make prostitution safer and more profitable for the men who exploit and harm prostituted women and children. Although many well-meaning people think that decriminalization simply means protecting prostituted women from arrest, it also refers, dangerously, to the decriminalization of johns and pimps. In this way prostitution is normalized, johns multiply, and pimps and traffickers become legitimated entrepreneurs. Say "No" to this lack of concern for marginalized women and children, who in this industry are expected to serve simply as objects of consumption! The Aboriginal Women's Action Network opposes the legalization of brothels for the 2010 Olympics. We refuse to be commodities in the so-called "sex industry" or offer up our sisters and daughters to be used as disposable objects for sex tourists.

A harm-reduction model that claims to help prostituted women by moving them indoors to legal brothels, not only would not reduce the harm to them, but would disguise the real issues. There is no evidence that indoor prostitution is safer for the women involved. Rather, it is just as violent and traumatic. Prostitution is inherently violent, merely an extension of the violence that most prostituted women experience as children. We should aim not merely to reduce this harm, as if it is a necessary evil and/or inescapable, but strive to eliminate it altogether. Those promoting prostitution rarely address class, race, or ethnicity as factors that make women even more vulnerable. A treatise can be written about Aboriginal women's vulnerability based on race, socio-economic status and gender but suffice it to say that we are very over-represented in street-level prostitution. There may even be a class bias behind the belief that street prostitution is far worse than indoor forms. It is not the street per se or the laws for that matter, which are the source of the problem, but prostitution itself which depends on a sub-class of women or a degraded caste to be exploited. A major factor contributing to the absence of attention given to the women who have gone missing women in Vancouver is the lack of police response, and the insidious societal belief that these women were not worthy of protection, a message that is explicitly conveyed to the johns, giving them the go-ahead to act toward these women with impunity. If we want to protect the most vulnerable women, we could start by decriminalizing prostituted women, not the men who harm them. Although it is not mentioned in the local news, the Swedish model of dealing with prostitution provides an example we should seriously consider. It criminalizes only the buying of sex, not the selling, targeting the customer, pimp, procurer, and trafficker, rather than the prostituted woman, and provides an array of social services to aid women to leave prostitution. Given that the vast majority of prostituted women wish to leave prostitution, we should focus on finding ways to help them to do that rather than entrenching them further into prostitution by legalizing and institutionalizing it. Here in Vancouver, if we are to help those most in need, young Aboriginal women, it would help to think more long-term, to focus on healing and prevention. Let's not get tricked into a supposed fix which is not even a band-aid, but only deepens the wounds.

AWAN demands that Aboriginal women have the opportunity to raise our families within our Traditional values of having a respected position for women and children in our societies. The single-most effective way of achieving that goal is empowering and resourcing Aboriginal women's groups, such as AWAN, so that we can organize, engage with other sectors of society and speak with our own voices. We have a great deal of certainty that organized Aboriginal women's voices would be calling for "Exiting" programs and services, support for Aboriginal women and children, and an end to forced prostitution. Let Vancouver enter into the 2010 Olympics without wearing the black-eye of decriminalized prostitution and legalized brothels that drive Aboriginal women further down the Human Rights ladder of Canadian and Vancouver society.

The Weekly Bitter White Whine - CU Racist: "Asians Hate Us All"

Max Karson is the hater arrested last year for saying he was angry enough to kill during an argument about the Virginia Tech shootings. This racist fucker is a ticking time bomb, for sure, and another vicious brat straight out of the white supremacist nursery that is the University of Colorado.

By Heath Urie Originally published 12:00 a.m., February 20, 2008Updated 09:44 a.m., February 20, 2008

CORRECTION Feb. 20, 2008: This story incorrectly characterized an essay by Max Karson in the Campus Press. Karson's piece was not an editorial representing the opinion of the paper's staff, but, rather, an opinion column. Also, the story incorrectly reported Stephanie Clary's tenure as Campus Press editor. She served as editor for one semester in 2006.

An editorial penned this week by a University of Colorado student has divided some past and present members of the Campus Press -- the official student newspaper at CU -- and enraged other students for what some said is a racist and inflammatory commentary about people of Asian ethnicity.

The column, titled "If it's war the Asians want ... It's war they'll get," was written by Max Karson, a staff editor at the Campus Press.

Administrators in November 2006 investigated Karson because of a satirical newsletter he circulated called "The Yeti," which angered some students and faculty members for writings that included columns about how women are not designed to enjoy sex and that he is "afraid of black people."

Ron Stump, CU's vice chancellor for student affairs, said then that the newsletter was protected free speech, and the school didn't punish Karson.

Then, last year, Karson was arrested and suspended after classmates reported that he said he was "angry enough to kill" during a heated discussion about the Virginia Tech shootings.

Published on the newspaper's Web site Monday, Karson's piece begins that he's noticed "some tension between the white students and the Asian students" at CU in the past year.

The author describes an incident at the CU Recreation Center in which "an Asian" apparently was confused about which racquetball court an errant ball belonged to.

"The Asian was so jaded by his experiences with the whitebread, brainless tree sloths of CU that even though three people had explained to him that he was trying to return the ball to the wrong court, it was inconceivable to him that we might be right," Karson wrote. "And when he looked into my eyes, it wasn't just irritation and disgust that I saw -- it was hate. Pure hate.

"They hate us all. And I say it's time we started hating them back."

The article, which appears in the opinion section of the paper's Web site, appears to be satirical but contains no editor's note or other explanation about its content.

Karson's article angered Pasha Minallah, a 27-year-old junior music major at CU and member of the South Asian Student Association.

"I just can't believe it," Minallah said. "It's stereotypes left and right. It's hard to believe that people think this way."

He said Karson's charge that all Asians hate white people is outlandish, even as a joke.

"I don't get it," Minallah said. "This person isn't very comfortable with the way he sees minority students in general and wishes they would be different -- wishes they would be more like himself."

Karson on Tuesday said he "can't talk about" his column and declined to say why.

Campus Press editor-in-chief Cassie Hewlings and faculty advisor Amy Herdy also declined to comment about Karson's column, although both women posted messages on the Campus Press Web site defending attacks on the paper from three former Campus Press editors who criticized the decision to run the article.

Stephanie Clary, who ran the paper from 2004 to 2006 and who butted heads with the paper's administration over a proposed name change in 2006, was among the former editors critical of the column.

Clary told the Camera on Tuesday that she agrees Karson has a First Amendment right to "say what he wants" but questioned why the piece was allowed to run with such a vitriolic tone.

"Yes, you're entitled to free speech, but free speech comes with responsibilities," Clary said. "As a student journalist, I think that needs to be taken into consideration, and I wonder if it was."

Hewlings responded to critics online.

"Thank you so much for pointing directly to yourselves as the absolute enemy of the very core of journalism as you advocate for self-censorship and prior restraint," Hewlings wrote. "There is news judgement when offering commentary on a very real phenomenon on this campus and I stand by my decision."MAX KARSON'S COLUMN

Since I transferred to CU last year, I've noticed some tension between the white students and the Asian students. There's never any outright conflict, but I notice little things. Like, Asians always seem surprised whenever I talk to them. They stare at me for a few seconds as though I must have made some mistake, and once they realize I'm intentionally speaking to them, they aren't always thrilled.

On the other hand, white people are quick to ridicule Asians. They have no problem with making demeaning remarks about their looks, mannerisms, and accents-things they would never say about black people.

So when an Asian refuses to make eye contact with me or dismisses me with a one-word sentence, I just say to myself, "Max, Asians are not evil cyborgs. They're human, just like you. And if you were a minority student in a sea of walnut-brained business majors and skiers, you'd be crabby, too."

But last week, I had an epiphany.

After my friend and I finished working our abs at the Rec Center, we decided to head upstairs to tighten our buns on the StairMaster. As we walked down the hallway, a rubber ball bounced out of one of the racquetball courts and landed at the feet of an Asian in front of us. He picked up the ball and leaned over the railing of the court nearest to him.

"Hey, that's not ours," I heard a guy call up from the court. The Asian stared down at him for a moment, and then held the ball out to him. "That's not ours," the guy said again.

Then another voice called out from a different court, "Hey, does anyone see a ball up there?"

The Asian looked over, confused.

"I think it goes to that court," I said, pointing to the one nearest to me.

The Asian stared at me blankly for another second, and then he looked back down into the court next to him and offered them the ball again.

"That's not our ball," the guy called up.

"Excuse me," I said. The Asian whipped his head around and scowled at me. "I think it goes to that court."

He paused a few seconds, and then he said, in a perfect American accent, "Okay," and tossed the ball into the court next to me.

That's when it hit me.

The Asian was so jaded by his experiences with the whitebread, brainless tree sloths of CU that even though three people had explained to him that he was trying to return the ball to the wrong court, it was inconceivable to him that we might be right.

And when he looked into my eyes, it wasn't just irritation and disgust that I saw-it was hate. Pure hate.

I'm such a fool for not realizing it sooner. I can't tell you how many times the Asians have treated me like a retarded weasel and I've forgiven them. But now I know that Asians are not just "a product of their environment," and their rudeness is not a "cultural misunderstanding."

They hate us all.

And I say it's time we started hating them back. That's right-no more "tolerance." No more "cultural sensitivity." No more "Mr. Pretend-I'm-Not-Racist."

It's time for war.

But we won't attack their bodies or minds. We will attack their souls.

The first step, or "Phase 1," is to find them all. Anyone who is interested in signing up to volunteer can do so by e-mailing me. Next Sunday at noon, we will all meet at Farrand Field. Each volunteer will be issued an extra-large butterfly net.

The hunt will then begin.

When I blow my whistle, we will scatter in every direction and catch as many Asians as possible. Make sure to pay special attention to the Rec Center, the UMC, the math and engineering buildings and Lollicup. If you're not sure if someone is an Asian, give them a calculus problem to do in their head. If they get it right, net 'em.

Captured Asians will be dragged to my apartment on the Hill and hog-tied. Once they're all secured in my living room, "Phase 2" will come into effect.

The Asians' reformation will begin with a 100-round beer pong tournament. They will listen to "It's a Small World" on repeat while they play.

When the tournament is finished, the Asians will then be forced to eat bad sushi from Hapa-with forks. When all the sushi is gone, they will be permitted to sleep for four hours, but the entire time I will shout through a megaphone, over and over, "Why didn't you make enough Wiis?!"

In the morning, the Asians will arrange themselves in rows, if they haven't naturally done so already. I will stand in front of them and hold up a card with the name of an emotion on it such as, "sad," or "surprised." The Asians must then make a facial expression to match the word on the card. Any Asian who remains deadpan or makes the wrong face will be tickled until they pee. When all Asians make the correct face at the same time, the game will end, but then they will be yelled at for being conformists.

The Asians will then be allowed to play "Dance Dance Revolution." However, the game will be rigged so that the Asians will receive no points, regardless of how robotically they dance.

Any Asian who tries to escape will be butterfly-netted and sent back to my apartment for another "Phase 2." Anyone caught speaking any language other than English will be kissed on the lips.

Once the Asian spirit has been broken, "Phase 3" will begin. Before we let the Asians go, we will go to their homes and redecorate them in a traditional American style. We will replace their rice cookers with George Foreman Grills, their green tea mochi with fried Snickers bars, and their rice rockets with Hummers. And booster seats.

When "Phase 3" is complete, the Asians will be released.

Now, I understand that this plan may upset some of you Asian readers, but the only other way to make peace would be to expel you. If you're smart, you'll turn yourselves in now, and it will all be over in a few days.

Besides, look on the bright side-we're not going to put you through anything we haven't put ourselves through, and we all turned out fine.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

Leave Youth of Color Alone!

Olympia, Washington, U.S. - A hip-hop concert featuring the revolutionary emcee duo Dead Prez ended in a riot that saw tens of thousands of dollars in damaged and stolen police property. The incident began when a campus police officer arrested a suspect on misdemeanor assault charges. The show had ended but the performers, still onstage, allegedly egged on the crowd saying, “They’re taking one of our people. Go take care of it.”

A crowd of maybe two dozen concert-goers surrounded the police car, forcing them to release the arrested individual. The arresting officer and her backup was unable to start her patrol car and hastily abandoned it as the crowd swelled to 200 strong. Rioters smashed in the cruiser's windows, graffitied the car and looted its contents, which included a laptop and radar gun before flipping the car over. Officers in riot gear later arrived on the scene and were greeted with a hail of bottles and rocks. More police cars were damaged but less seriously than the first. Police made no arrests, but said that they hope to find DNA on the destroyed cruiser that will lead them to suspects.

Denmark - The night air of Denmark's major cities has been full of smoke and fire for the past six consecutive nights. Immigrant youth are believed to be behind the destruction in response to racist police harassment. Police have long since enforced selective "zero tolerance policies" in poor immigrant neighborhoods and declared "visitation zones"-- special areas of cities where civil liberties are temporarily suspended. The incident sparking the unrest was the police beating of an elderly immigrant man and his sons last Saturday.

Cars and dumpsters have been the main targets for the arsonists, but in the last days several schools have also come under attack. At least one school was burned to the ground. Rioters seem to be avoiding direct conflict with the police, but are using hit-and-run tactics similar to classic insurgent strategy. On several occasions, however, police and fire fighters have been met with rocks and bottles when approaching fires or large groups of youths.

Friday, February 15, 2008

So F-Word Nominated, Baby!

Congratulations! Your blog has been nominated for at least one (1) Canadian F-word Blog Award! These awards have been created to highlight and celebrate the best feminist bloggers (and their supporters) in Canada and the world. Festivities take place at A Creative Revolution - http://www.acreativerevolution.ca/ Virtual refreshments and entertainment will be provided by your hosts/webmistresses, Pale and Prole.

First round of voting is February 15 - 16.Final round of voting is February 22 - 23.Winners announced February 24.One vote per IP address per round, please.

Journalist, political activist, and death-row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal lends his support for Ms. McKinney’s candidacy. This segment, originally recorded January 27th for Prison Radio, features Mumia Abu Jamal comments about the distinction between the illusion of change and the substance of change. He can be written to at: Mumia Abu-Jamal; AM 8335; SCI-Greene; 175 Progress Drive; Waynesburg, PA 15370.

In this age of political discontent, it seems clear that many Americans who plan to vote are voting for “change”.

Just what kind of change is an open question. Will that change bring the first woman to the Oval Office? Or will it bring a Black man (or ,to some, a 1/2 Black man?)

Whatever, it is interesting that the nation’s punditocracy, the talking heads who act like verbal sheepdogs of the American fleece, have almost totally ignored one candidate who can, in her single self, embody, not just the illusion, but the reality of “change”, experience, a demonstrated stand against the Iraq War, and a life of living female.

I speak, of course, of Cynthia McKinney, the bold, outspoken former congresswoman from Georgia, who spoke out against the Iraq War when it wasn’t popular.

She is running on the Green Party, according to published reports, but the media has virtually ignored this fact.

Her record of speaking out against the U.S. war machine, the military-industrial complex, and other issues of concern is head and shoulders above any of the other candidates running for office, on either party.

But, without the paid imprimatur of the corporate powers that be, it can be little more than an insurgent campaign, one kept safely to the margins of American politics, off the stage, and off the screen.

This is our loss, for the major candidates (or those supported by the corporate status quo) are, by their very nature, designed to split the votes of two significant blocs in the Democratic Party, which can only leave the loser feeling embittered.

Why not a real Black woman as a candidate?

Wouldn’t that be a change?

And although all politics is symbolic, McKinney really is a woman of substance.

She has been politically courageous in many of her stands, which has made her persona non grata among both Republicans and Democrats.

That’s because she’s not a corporate candidate. She’s proven in her career as a member of Congress that she won’t be bought off. Of who else running today can the same be said?

People say they want ‘change’, but do they really?

Many people are terrified of change. They want the safety of the routine, the comfort of predictability.

That’s because many people fear losing their already tenuous grip on their lifestyle.

But with millions of people facing foreclosure, and with the rest of the economy on the brink of free-fall, how much safety is apparent?

That’s only an economic concern, what about foreign policy?

Foreign policy, for at least the last decade, has been handled (or should I say, mishandled?) by an array of incompetents who have succeeded only in making bad situations far worse.

Do people want change, or are they merely claiming that they do?

Cynthia McKinney would certainly represent that, in a way far more substantial and meaningful than anybody else out there.

Politicians should be far more than paid agents of the wealthy. They should be far more than millionaires working on behalf of other millionaires

Why are we not surprised that the U.S. Senate is a millionaires club?

How could such people have an appreciation of working people?What do they really know about the poor?

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's state oil company said Tuesday that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. in response to the U.S. oil company's drive to use the courts to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Exxon Mobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its oil ventures in Venezuela that has led President Hugo Chavez to threaten to cut off all Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States. Venezuela is the United States' fourth largest oil supplier.

Tuesday's announcement by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, was limited to Exxon Mobil, which PDVSA accused of "judicial-economic harassment" for its efforts in U.S. and European courts.

PDVSA said it "has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil" and suspended commercial relations with the Irving, Texas-based company.

"The legal actions carried out by the U.S. transnational are unnecessary ... and hostile," PDVSA said in the statement. It said it will honor any existing contracts it has with Exxon Mobil for joint investments abroad, but reserved the right to terminate them if permitted by the terms of the contracts.

It was unclear how much oil PDVSA supplies to Exxon Mobil, the world's biggest publicly traded oil company. Both Chavez and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez previously said the company is no longer welcome to do business in Venezuela.

Monday, February 11, 2008

Get Ready to Walk: Chavez Warns US Empire of Oil Cut

"We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."

Oil Prices Jump on Chavez Threat

ExxonMobil, white-collar criminals, will never rob us again: Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States in an "economic war" if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.Exxon Mobil has gone after the assets of state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA in U.S., British and Dutch courts as it challenges the nationalization of a multibillion dollar oil project by Chavez's government.

A British court has issued an injunction "freezing" as much as $12 billion in assets.

"If you end up freezing (Venezuelan assets) and it harms us, we're going to harm you," Chavez said during his weekly radio and television program, "Hello, President." "Do you know how? We aren't going to send oil to the United States. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger."

Chavez has repeatedly threatened to cut off oil shipments to the United States, which is Venezuela's No. 1 client, if Washington tries to oust him. Chavez's warnings on Sunday appeared to extend that threat to attempts by oil companies to challenge his government's nationalization drive through lawsuits.

"I speak to the U.S. empire, because that's the master: continue and you will see that we won't sent one drop of oil to the empire of the United States," Chavez said Sunday.

"The outlaws of Exxon Mobil will never again rob us," Chavez said, accusing the Irving, Texas-based oil company of acting in concert with Washington.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Tree Slaps Pentagon Correspondent Dead

BTW, whatever happened to ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff? I don't see why a sucking head wound should be any reason to relieve the man of his anchor duties. It's not like you need a functioning brain to do that job anyway.

KEYSTONE, Colo. - John McWethy, a retired ABC News correspondent who had to flee the Pentagon after the 2001 attacks but continued reporting live, died Wednesday after a skiing accident. He was 61.

Witnesses said McWethy was skiing fast on an intermediate trail when he missed a turn and slid chest-first into a tree, Summit County Coroner Joanne L. Richardson said. McWethy died of blunt force injuries, she said.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008

Is The Iraq War Illegal? Ehren Watada Answers

Milo Yoshino of the Diablo Valley JACL chapter posed a thoughtful question in regards to whether this "war is still illegal given that the United Nations has passed multiple resolutions ... [and] after the government has asked for assistance." (Pacific Citizen, Nov. 16-Dec. 13, 2007, page 7)

Is the war illegal? Before answering this question, it is essential to divide up this conflict into: 1) the invasion and toppling of the former regime, and 2) the subsequent occupation of Iraq by American troops.

There can be no doubt that according to the UN Charter which forbids preventative wars and regime change, the invasion of Iraq was unlawful on its face. Is outlawing pre-emption fair? Absolutely - there is nothing that prohibits a nation from having a very strong defense. Moreover, nothing in the Charter prohibits a nation from retaliating after being attacked (which we were not as stated unequivocally and after-the-fact by the Bush Administration).

Ultimately, this law was established to protect the weak from the powerful, which left unaccountable, can invent any rationale for an invasion and occupation like Hitler did with Poland.

Next, is the occupation illegal? That would depend on who you ask. For supporters of continued involvement, the answer is no - American troops are protecting us against international terrorism and the Iraqis have requested our help; we have a legal mandate granted by the same institution that we ignored and de-legitimized by invading in the first place.

On the other hand, if you ask the Iraqis themselves (who make up the vast majority of the anti-American insurgency and not Al Qaeda) - as a democratic people, they may have an entirely different answer.

Although the U.S. has a mandate, it has continually violated the terms in which it must occupy and protect the people according to international laws. Numerous prominent NGOs in the country, including Iraqi lawmakers, have cited the American military's repeated violations of these laws and appealed to the UN to repeal this mandate.

Not only have these actions contributed to the overall instability but as an August 2007 poll conducted by the BBC, ABC, and NHK found, 79 percent of Iraqis opposed "the presence of coalition forces in Iraq," while 72 percent felt that "the presence of U.S. forces in Iraq" was "making security in our country" worse.

But is the occupation legal today? Members of the Administration might like to think so because it provides cover for privatizing the country's oil reserves (evident in the proposed oil law that was written by an oil executive working in the White House) and pleases ideologues who believe in American military domination of the Middle East.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki might like to think so because he requires American troops to prop up his weak and corrupt executive branch. The Iraqi legislative body or the elected representatives of the people might disagree however.

In 2006, Maliki requested the renewal of the UN Mandate without consulting with and gaining the approval of two-thirds of the parliament as required by the Iraqi Constitution. Outraged, a majority of Shiite and Sunni lawmakers joined together this past June and passed a binding resolution to affirm this constitutional provision.

Thereafter however, this resolution was not only ignored by Maliki, the Bush Administration, and mainstream American media, but by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon - even after a letter signed by a majority of Iraqi parliamentarians was sent to convince him otherwise.

If Iraq's Ministers of Parliament are ever given their day in assembly, it is certain that a majority will vote for a timetable for withdrawal as a precondition to any renewal as they did in a non-binding resolution this past May. If they are denied a voice, it can be rest assured that with the majority of Iraq's elected officials cut out of the deliberative process and by extension a majority of the people, Iraqis will see no hope in political resolution to their problems - only armed ones. This almost ensures an endless cycle of violence and in turn, continued rhetoric for why we can never leave.

I may not know much, but one thing is certain. Japanese American men and women did not sacrifice their lives and freedoms throughout history, so that today's leaders could invade and occupy another country, then strip the people of their democratic rights when it didn't suit their interests. To believe otherwise, is to bring dishonor upon their memory.

Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Inteligenta Indigena: Obama and the Indians

News24 reports that Barack Obama says that the US has "a special obligation to help American-Indians."

Obama said "There is no doubt that we have a special obligation to try to work with the tribal leadership and Native American communities to solve some of these problems."

What problems is he talking about?

Is this pundit of professed 'change' going to take a leap into reality and address the genocide that characterizes Indian life in his beloved America?

Ummmm … no!

Obama may be delusional about his chances to become president in November, but his beige politics is not delusional about what white America wants to know and care about Indians.

So, rather than break with the historically racist establishment thinking, Obama is decidedly very much inside of the mindset that Indians are pathological because they are self-destructive and, therefore, at risk.

Monday, February 04, 2008

Like A Woman: Misogynist Hate Speech

If the level of misogynist hate speech rampant in the English language is any indication, males must think there could be nothing worse in this world than to be "like a woman." In fact, men seem to measure their manhood by how far away from the feminine they can make themselves appear.

The paucity of gender-based words degrading non-female or macho asshole behavior is striking. Yes, there's dick, prick, dickhead, asshole, jackass, jerkoff, pig, fucker - but not much else. And unlike the misogynist words listed below, none of these words are ever used to degrade the same unacceptable behavior in women. Think about it: Would you ever call a woman an asshole instead of a bitch?

In reality, women are essential. The further away from "like a woman" a man tries to render himself, the closer he gets to nothing. In fact, the US military is full of men trying to prove they aren't like women. And many of them are dying for it.

Jay Watson, 25, of Aurora, expects to be busy during the Democratic National Convention in August. He promises an unforgettable milk bath massage for $125 an hour. "I'm cute, I'm sexy and I deliver it all," he says.Political tricks may not be the only ones turned during the Democratic National Convention in Denver this August.

The sex and adult entertainment industries are expecting a boom in business when an estimated 35,000 visitors descend on the Mile High City for the presidential nominating bash.

At the Pepsi Center, the focus will be on a single nominee.

But outside the event, the choices available to the delegates, journalists and others are unlimited, giving new meaning to the term "conventional sex."

More than six months before the convention comes to Denver, the offerings already online range from Claudia the "she- male porn star" to Erin the "adorable college cutie," whose $300- an-hour services are guaranteed to "leave you breathless."

Surprised?

Don't be.

Denver is, after all, home to Mike Jones, the beefy male prostitute who claimed to have bedded the Rev. Ted Haggard in his Capitol Hill apartment.

Jay Watson, who promises an unforgettable milk bath and lotion massage for $125 an hour, said he's expecting to be busy during the DNC Aug. 25-28.

Why?

"Because look at me," said Watson, a 25-year-old Aurora man with a Mohawk. "I'm cute. I'm sexy and I deliver it all."

'More business' from GOP

Too bad for Watson and others like him that Denver didn't land the GOP convention instead, said Carol Leigh, a San Francisco prostitute "over 50" who has traveled to previous Democratic conventions in Los Angeles and Atlanta.

"It would be a lot better for the sex workers if it was the Republican convention," she said.

"We get a lot more business. I don't know if they're just frustrated because of the family values agenda," she said.

When the Republican convention was held in New York in 2004, some sex workers offered limited-time discounts, according to New York Magazine, which ran a feature story titled "The Girls in Their Summer Hot Pants."

Officer Ana Aguirre, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles police, which hosted the DNC in 2000, said there's "definitely a spike" in prostitution during large events like political conventions.

In Denver, said police spokesman Sonny Jackson, "We're preparing to handle a variety of issues that may come up."

Even though they attract a lot of people, political conventions aren't the most profitable for the men and women in the world's oldest profession, Leigh said.

"Computer conventions can be lucrative," she said. "There's a lot of nerds that don't get out much."

But money is money, and the Democrats are expected to inject millions of dollars into the metro area when they flock into town.

"We're preparing to be busy for that convention," said Tracy, a manager for Bare Assets, a Denver-based adult entertainment agency that does everything "from singing telegrams to novelty acts to topless to nude."

Tracy declined to give her last name or say whether the agency had any DNC-related bookings.

"Whether it be because of the convention or because it's somebody's bachelor party, it's just private (information)," she said.

Jumps in advertising

Beverly Chastain, a door girl at the Diamond Cabaret & Steakhouse, a gentleman's club downtown, said reservations should start picking up this month.

"When it comes to conventions and stuff, we do free entry for it and then we just plan on advertising our lunch buffet and stuff more," she said.

Taylor Wheeler, classified sales manager for Westword, a weekly that includes an escort and body rub section, said his staff is expecting an increase in personals as the DNC approaches.

"I can't say it didn't cross our mind with all the delegates in town that they might be kind of on their own," he said.

Advertising for escorts and other personals jumped when the NBA All-Star game was in town, he said.

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Bless Your Heart, Charlie Brennan

Charlie Brennan of New York, that is.

Good Sir, if you'll just hold on a little longer, Colorado Charlie will soon be gone. He's already been almost four weeks now without a Fox 31 live standup or pretaped. Either he's terribly sick or the suits at Fox 31 KDVR have decided to allow him only his cheesy Week In Politics with Charlie Brennan, which airs on Sundays.

Not to worry, Charlie Brennan of Saratoga Springs, New York - Denver Chuck will fade away into page ten google search oblivion eventually. Then you can take the lovely name and do something musical with it that our Colorado Charlie, sadly, never will.

What bothers me the most about Charlie Brennan, is that he has MY name! As a fledgling singer-songwriter (complete with day job, of course) checking Google for whether or not my web page, or MySpace page comes up...I have run across: A motivational (sales) speaker, A KMOX radio disc jockey (Funny. Was a DJ as well: Albany radio market in the 80's and 90's- same moniker, no matter)...both seem like competent fellows...then there's this guy. No one has anything nice to say about this dude. Not at all. Now I'd like to sell some records someday. Maybe publish a song or two. I have some really awesome kids, too. And, I'd like to spare them any embarrassing confusion. So, here's my idea. Charlie Brennan from Denver should change his name. He can even pick one out himself. From what I've read, that may be a daunting task. But, since other folks have consistently given Colorado Charlie a second chance, I'll let him attempt this task as well. There are some terrific books and websites for new parents about selecting a name for your pending bundle of joy. Chuck of the Rockies could start there. If that seems too complex, have the other Mr. Brennan contact me and I'll help him out. Then he can pick up a copy of my CD, "Beautiful Distraction" (out this summer) It's the least he can do for using my name.